Note: Loops and related child interviews are only available as part of the Expert license.
This article explains the details about master and child interviews in raw data that are created as a result of using loop section feature in a survey.
Please reference this page to learn how to create survey with loops and analyze it using Survalyzer reports
What are “Master Interviews” and “Child Interviews”?
Child interviews are created whenever survey has looped sections. One child interview is created per each loop (starting with the second loop). Each child interview contains the data of one looped section.
Data related to answers within looped sections
When exporting the excel raw data, by default you will see such result (few columns hidden for clarity):
Highlighted you can see data related to answers within the looped sections:
Loop variable. Looped data starts with a specific loop variable. This loop variable contains information about which loop (list item) the answer values relate to. It’s name is defined by the prefix “loop” followed by the section id (in this case “2”) and the list name (in this case “newList1”).
Looped questions variables. After loop variable you will find question variables that are inside the looped section. The first loop iteration of the first looped section will always be saved in the master interview.
This data structure enables you to analyze the question q2 as always, but with additional segmentation based on the loop variable. This creates new possibilities, you can analyze results both globally (e.g. general satisfaction score across all products) and segmented per each loop=item (e.g. satisfaction score per each product, segmented nicely in one table / chart).
Data related to interview type when using loops
Master and child interviews can be identified by the following variables in the raw data export:
Interview Type tells you if the interview is a “Master” interview or a “Child” interview. The master is always the main interview which contains all data. If the master interview is deleted, you automatically delete all related child interviews.
In Master Interview Id column you can find the Master Interview Id for all child interviews.
Raw data export options
When you download raw data with at least one looped section, you see additional setting to select:
Option 1: Don’t repeat values of not looped variables in child interviews
By default, the values of variables outside the looped sections are not repeated in child interviews in excel and SPSS raw data exports:
This way you can view your results in an intuitive way and easily conduct the basic analysis directly in the excel file.
Option 2: Repeat values of not looped variables in child interviews
This is a default data structure for Dashboard Report calculations of tables with “include child interviews” setting. If you want to cross-reference your Dashboard Report results with excel results, use this setting for excel raw data export.
For some scenarios, it is beneficial to repeat the values of variables outside the looped sections in each child interview, e.g. to be able to cross-reference looped & not looped values together.
In order to download that type of data structure, select the “repeat the values of not looped variables in child interviews” setting before downloading excel or SPSS raw data file.
The export file will then look the following way:
Highlighted you can notice the data of variable outside loop section, repeated inside each child interview.
How many child interviews are created per each interview?
In a simple scenario, there will be as many child interviews as items on the list used for a loop. Minus one, because first loop data is saved in a Master Interview. Child interviews are automatically created for each next loop iteration answered by respondent.
For e.g. if the list has 22 items, then there could be a interview having 21 child interviews. But if the respondent, either based on loop limitation or list item filters, only sees 3 items of the 22, then the interview only creates 1 Master interview and 2 child interviews.